Hardly a day goes by that people planning to receive Social Security benefits aren’t told by some “expert” that the money won’t be there when it’s time to retire.
In a recent column on Social Security, Malcolm Berko decided to play “expert.” In answering a question from a couple planning to retire in the year 2006, Berko advised that they were “stupid” to include Social Security in their retirement planning because Social Security is not secure.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. Alarmist theories proclaiming the coming demise of the Social Security system have long been as common as Elvis sightings, only less reliable.
Last April, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report. The board is an independent body that reviews both the short- and long-term health of the Social Security system, using reliable economic and demographic data, and issues a report projecting Social Security’s future. The current report states that the Social Security system is fiscally safe and sound and will remain so, without tax increases, for well into the future.
Berko raised another red herring when he advised readers that their Social Security benefits are at the mercy of the whims of Congress. Social Security benefits are an earned right, based on people’s work records, wages and contributions (and those of their employers) throughout their working lives. It is a program with a national constituency that Congress doesn’t change lightly, but only after long deliberation and consensus building.
